New York Times Chronology: Labor

Bearing a message of concern from the President, Secretary Goldberg flew here from Washington and joined Governor Rockefeller and Mayor Wagner in efforts to end the paralyzing harbor strike. (1:8) – January 23, 1961

The paralyzing harbor strike is over. It was settled with the help of Secretary of Labor Goldberg in a marathon session at Governor Rockefeller's office. The negotiators agreed to put off the crucial crew-size issue until the White House completed a study. (1:8) – January 24, 1961

The labor Department reported that consumer prices hit a new high in December, with food and housing costs spurring the rise. It was the fourth consecutive increase in the index and the seventeenth in the last twenty-one months. (1:2) – January 28, 1961

One of the most urgent problems inherited by Labor Secretary Goldberg is whether to continue supporting U.N.'s subsidiary, the International Labor Organization. (22) – January 30, 1961

Labor Secretary Goldberg, addressed the National Press Club and said that it was not the President’s intention, in calling for a White House labor-management panel, "to foster a compulsory system of Wage and price policy" to replace present collective bargaining machinery. (8:1) – February 4, 1961

President Kennedy called on Congress for prompt action to increase the national minimum wage from $1 to $1.25 an hour and extend the protection to 4,300,000 workers. He declared that "our nation can ill afford to tolerate the growth of an underprivileged and underpaid class." (1:1) – February 8, 1961

Mr. Kennedy’s Labor Secretary, Arthur Goldberg, said during his tour of depressed areas that "we are in a full-fledged recession" and urged bipartisan support for the President’s recovery programs. (1:2-3) – February 11, 1961

More than 70,000 workers were laid off by six major airlines, crippled by a wildcat strike of flight engineers. There was no indication of a quick settlement, and two of the struck carriers announced a complete shutdown of service, two said they would maintain "taken" service, and two said they would continue limited operations. (1:5) – February 21, 1961

Both parties have joined in the House to give quick passage to President Kennedy’s unemployment compensation plan. It was the first major bill to be passed by this session of the 87th Congress. The vote was 392 to 30, with only twenty-eight Republicans and two Democrats in opposition. (1:1) – March 2, 1961

Secretary of Labor Goldberg told a press conference that unemployment rose to 5,705,000 in February, the highest level since 1941. At the same time, over-all employment rose to 64,655,000 a record for February. (1:2-3) – March 8, 1961

President Kennedy told his news conference that he hoped the rate of unemployment, 6.8 per cent in February, could be cut to 4 per cent ’ the widely but not universally accepted standard of a satisfactory rate. (1:1) – March 16, 1961

President Kennedy faces a test in Congress this week as the House takes up his minimum wage bill. The coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats says that it has the votes to substitute a scaled-down measure, and Administration forces concede they do not now have the votes to win. (1:4) – March 20, 1961

Organized labor has quietly pledged its help to the Peace Corps, apparently satisfied that the corps would not be "a junket for a bunch of college co-eds" and that skilled union craftsmen would be needed for overseas projects. (1:1) – April 1, 1961

The Labor Department reported that both employment and unemployment set records for the month of March. The number of jobless declined by 200,000. Employment rose 861,000. The usual March increase is 600,000. (1:2) – April 5, 1961

Labor Department officials estimated that Federal and state payments to the unemployed had reached a record monthly total of $450,000,000 in March, with the benefits currently making up 30 per cent of the wages and salaries lost by the nation’s 5,500,000 jobless. (11:2) – April 15, 1961

The way was cleared for a union within a union as the National Labor Relations Board ruled to allow staff employees of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to organize over objections of their chief and the A.F.L.-C.I.O. (1:2) – April 16, 1961

The Labor Department last month saw the first "significant" upturn in employments since the start of the recession. However, the number of long-term jobless was at a postwar high of 2,128,000. (1:4) – May 12, 1961

The N.A.A.C.P. has started a campaign to cut off Federal funds for state employment services that practice racial discrimination in filling jobs. (23:3) – June 7, 1961

The paralyzing effect of the seamen’s strike spread slowly along the nation’s coasts. Longshoremen honored the lines, refusing to work cargo. At the same time, Federal officials renewed their efforts to get both sides back to the bargaining table. Labor Secretary Goldberg asked for a resumption of direct negotiations early today in New York. (1:8) – June 17, 1961

Labor Secretary Goldberg proposed setting up a three-man panel of distinguished citizens to break the stalemate in the week-old seamen’s strike. He also asked management and labor to get the ships moving again and to accept a sixty-day cooling-off period to give the panel time to study all aspects of the dispute. (1:4) – June 23, 1961

President Kennedy urged the United Automobile Workers and the General Motors Corporation to achieve a "just" contract settlement and avoid a strike today. He said the country could "ill afford a shutdown" at this critical time. (1:2) – September 6, 1961

The National Association of Manufacturers confirmed that it had cut its ties with the International Labor Organization. Officials contended that the I.L.O., an arm of the U.N., was dominated by Communists and Socialists. (37:7) – September 27, 1961

Secretary of Labor Goldberg indicated that he would oppose the call by Michael J. Quill, President of the Transport Workers Union, for readmission of James R. Hoffa’s Teamsters to the A.F.L.-C.I.O. "Mr. Hoffa’s leadership is not good leadership for the labor movement," said Mr. Goldberg. (35:2) – October 3, 1961

The United Automobile Workers began a nation-wide strike against the Ford Motor Company. Production that had been running at about 40,000 cars and 8,000 trucks came to a halt as 120,000 workers walked out. (1:8) – October 4, 1961

With one word-"No"- President Meany of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. rejected the notion that James R. Hoffa’s outcast Teamsters Union would be readmitted to the merged labor movement. (1:5) – October 10, 1961

The merged labor federation censured A. Phillip Randolph, its only Negro vice president, for having created a rift "between organized labor and the Negro community." The executive council of the federation also disputed his charges of discrimination and racism by several federation affiliates. (1:1) – October 13, 1961

Secretary of Labor Goldberg assured organized labor that there was "plenty of room" for wage increases under the Kennedy Administration’s economic policy. Mr. Goldberg told the convention of the labor federation at Bal Harbour, Fla., the "inequities do exist" and that the Administration did not propose "in any way to restrict the ability of collective bargaining to remove or solve these inequities." (1:1) – December 9, 1961